From the beginning, our Duavata Collective has continuously collaborated on learning initiatives to improve our own and shared practices. A group forged in friendship and shared values, core to our approach has been peer-to-peer learning and support.
Now that we’re further into our journey, we’re expanding our focus to help emerging and impactful tourism ventures grow their businesses.
Why? Because when you are just starting out, the entrepreneurial road is challenging. Setting up any business in Fiji comes with its own set of hurdles, and for small and community enterprises in the tourism sector, the complexity is further amplified—industry dynamics and structure can be complex and difficult to navigate, even intimidating. Founders can struggle to have their voices heard or make the connections they need to build their ventures. Navigating these challenges to successfully start, sustain, and scale a tourism enterprise is no small feat.
To address these challenges, we are thrilled to announce our partnership with ygap, a global social enterprise accelerator that works to identify and support underestimated entrepreneurs developing scalable solutions to social and environmental challenges. Their accelerators have supported 752 entrepreneurs around the world, including locally-led programs across the Pacific Islands region.
Together, and alongside Tourism Fiji’s destination development team, we are co-designing and delivering a Sustainable Tourism Accelerator specifically for emerging tourism businesses. It is a unique approach to business acceleration, a program specifically tailored to support tourism ventures in Fiji. We’re not just offering standard business advice; we’re providing a program that understands the intricacies of Fiji’s tourism industry.
Kicking off in December and delivered over 7 months, the Accelerator includes an immersive live-in Bootcamp followed by a six-month support phase, offering coaching, tailored mentorship, masterclasses, industry site visits, micro-grants, and access to a global learning community. Participants will also have the unique opportunity to attend Tourism Fiji’s premier event – the Fiji Tourism Exchange.
Our collaboration with ygap has been evolving over the last two years— initially facilitated by Duavata member Talanoa Treks, we have piloted two programs focused on women-led tourism ventures. We’re excited to now level up this partnership and engage members from our broader network, including Bula Coffee, Finding Islands Tours, Muanivatu Trails, and Nukubati. These businesses will work alongside the upcoming cohort, sharing their learning, insights, and expertise with 12 emerging entrepreneurs. We will also participate in Incubate Better, ygap’s support program for entrepreneur support organisations.
This initiative is about more than just building businesses; it’s about nurturing a movement. We are positive disruptors and agents of change—tourism operators working within the system to shape its future. In nurturing emerging social ventures, we’re working to help empower the next wave of tourism leaders—purpose-driven operators committed to preserving traditional knowledge and culture, regenerating our environment, and building long-standing, respectful relationships between visitors and communities.
With shared values, complimentary expertise and experience, this partnership is an exciting step towards encouraging and empowering a new era of sustainable tourism ventures. We have all seen first-hand that tourism, when done right and for the right reasons, can help inspire positive change.
Stay tuned as we embark on this exciting journey! As we work towards building a more sustainable and impactful tourism industry in Fiji, join us in celebrating the change these ventures will bring to our communities and the tourism sector.
